Kitty

So I was gathering some quilt tops and tote bags to bring to Yankee Quilter for their Holiday Gift Bazaar tomorrow (Sunday Nov. 22) and look who found the quilts mere moments after they were dropped on the chair?

Lily of course. there has not been a quilt made that Lily does not think is hers. She just climbs right up, snuggles in and purrs.

Too cute!

The Holiday Gift Bazaar sounds like fun. Because I am bringing them some patterns and totes, quilt tops... I get in early! It's like legal cheating!
This is one of the tops I am bringing in- it's so pretty! It is made from our Floral Fandango pattern.


If it doesn't sell, I may have to finish it myself- It will look great in my kitchen next spring!

Happy quilting!
Kate

Hearts

So, I am working on a new pattern. One with hearts.

I figure the best way to start is to just start cutting. I had already drawn the design and wrote the directions, so now I just needed to go to my stash and try it out. See how it looked in fabric.

Found some cute white and pink fabric in my stash that would make a nice background. Then on to the pinks. I am going to try this one in several pink variations- one with pinks and orange; one with pink and green and one more with reds. See which one really thrills me.

Here are the first 2 heart blocks. I would have made another one, but I am out of fusible stuff! But that is
easy to fix. I like the stitching on the striped one- that was fun.

Happy quilting

Kate

Quilt Guild

This weekend Elizabeth's quilt guild- Candlelight Quilt Guild in Baldwinsville, NY is hosting their biannual quilt show. And we are vending at it. It is a lot of fun chatting with fellow quilters and seeing all the quilts their guild has done.

McCalls Quick Quilts

Yea! We just saw that our quilt, Belle Noelle, is on the cover of the latest McCalls Quick Quilts! Check it out!

http://www.quickquilts.com/issues/index.html?current_issue

We never thought when we sent it in to that it would make the cover. I had a lot of fun designing that quilt. When we first were given the task of designing a holiday quilt, I had no idea off what I wanted to do.

Elizabeth and I talked about a bunch of different ideas until the bells were born. I must have drawn those bells a million times! Okay, a million is an exaggeration, but it seemed like it! I just kept playing until they felt right. I love how it came out!

Our friends at Yankee Quilter will be offering the kit for the project and Ackfeld Manufacturing took a small version of one of their quilt hangers and tweaked it for us! What a great collaboration!

Go to McCalls Quick Quilts and check out our cute little quilt and all the other great quilts in the magazine!

http://www.quickquilts.com/articles/Belle_Noelle

Happy quilting,

Kate

Quilt Market

Well this weekend is the annual Fall Quilt Market in Houston Texas. And we should be there. But we are not. There are good reasons why we are not, and these things happen, but still, I am bummed. But I had a pretty good weekend so I thought I would share with you.

On Saturday, my friends at the Southford Falls Quilt Guild had their first quilt show. What fun! They did a great job- there seemed to be lots of people there, there was a beautiful raffle quilt and lots of fun baskets to win. the only problem I can see is that I have yet to get a call about which basket I won! Oh well, I tried.

I also made a baby quilt. I cut it out on Sat morning and then made all the blocks on Saturday afternoon after the show. I used our pattern "Mosaic Medley". I love using that one for baby quilts. I don't make tiny baby quilts. And, it came out so cute! I can't stand it! I used some fabric from the "Safari so Good" fabric line by P&B Textiles- it has these really cute monkeys. It was so funny; a month or so ago I was in PA for work and I stopped to see my daughter. On the way to see her, I stopped at a really nice fabric shop called Piece by Piece Quit Shop in Ephrata, PA. And that's where I saw the monkey fabric. Now I am not a huge monkey fan, but these guys were cute and the dad of the baby -to -be loves monkeys!

Today I put the quilt together. Isn't it too darn cute! I guess it is a little hard to see the fabric...

Here's a close up of the monkeys! And the back is going to be a yellow flannel. So soft!


I also made a bean bag chair for my daughter's dorm room at college. I'd take a picture, but until she fills it with beans, it looks like a lump of fabric!



I also worked on a quilt pattern we are designing for a shop hop in NY. We are going to call it "Pinpoint". I am trying out various colorways- my first one was in fall colors. Yesterday I was adding flower Yo-yo's made with the clover Yo-yo tool on the way to the guild show. What do you think? Aren't they cute?

I am also working on a more Christmas version of the runner. But I will save posting a picture of that one until it is quilted. I basted it today so it is ready for the next step. Off to take a break (and maybe sew a binding on a quilt while I veg in front of the "tube")!

Until another day...

Happy Quilting!

Kate

September

Is it really possible that September is over? When did it start? It feels like I have just missed this month. So much is going on, that maybe I did not miss it, but instead, just couldn't keep up with it!

The CT Shop Hop was a lot of fun. I was not able to make it to all 18 shops, but I was able to see a bunch of them. Everyone was great! And I loved seeing the quilts made by some of the shops using the pattern we designed for the shop hop, Crossroads thru Connecticut.

A couple of the shops will be donating their quilts after a while- isn't that great? I have an extra top for Crossroads and I think, once I get it quilted, I will do the same. I'll keep you posted on that.

We have been busy working on 2 new patterns- Newspaper and one for a shop hop in NY. That one is a cute table runner pattern- simple but fun. Just need to decide on a name. I'll post a picture soon.

Until then...
happy quilting!
Kate

I have been traveling in Pennsylvania this past week for work. What quilter doesn't love Amish country? I saw the greatest sign on my travels: it was a hand painted sign for Quilts, Crafts and Pigeons.
Pigeons.
Really?
OK.

Happy quilting
Kate

Computers- friend or foe?

So yesterday was one of those days. After having so much fun on Saturday quilt shopping, of course Sunday had to present a challenge.

Remember the new computer? Well, I do love it but right now, I am still working between two computers until I move all my files over. And some of the programs don't work with the new computer without an upgrade.... yadda, yadda, yadda.

Anyway, dear hubbie was helping to move files and install programs and he installed the program for my web site, copied over the web site files and tried to upload a new picture. I'll bet you can guess what happened. The site crashed! OK- we thought, no problem, it is still on the old computer , so we will just upload from there. But no! we can't upload from either one!

After many hours and emails to our web host, the site is back and hubby now knows a lot about my web site and pages so maybe I can get him to "help" with it in the future. There are always things to do and not enough hours in the day! Of course, he may regret learning about this program.

There is some fun stuff - I have been working on a new pattern for another shop hop (this one is in NY) and my friend Charmion came over tonight to start testing it. She picked these beautiful Hoffman fabrics and I think it is going to look great. It is a table runner- the one I made is in fall fabrics and hers are for Christmas. I will post some pictures when we get farther along.
Until then....happy quilting!

Today I went for a little quilting R&R. My friend Charmion and I went to 2 of our favorite (of course, we have many favorites!) quilt shops to do a little window shopping, inspiration gathering, etc... What fun! It was just what I needed. At one of the shops- The Yankee Quilter- we visited with our shop owner friends Barb and Cheryl and bought lots of stuff! Charmion had to check out twice!

Then we went to Quilting by the Yard, a shop packed with fabric, jelly rolls and just lots of stuff. More shopping.

They also have 2 versions of the shop hop quilt, Crossroads thru Connecticut, in the shop and they look great. Each one was done in a different colorway and they both looked great.

This is a picture of the lap size Crossroads thru Connecticut quilt hanging at Yankee Quilter.

Can't wait for the shop hop to see all the quilts the shops made.

This is so cool! I am posting from my new computer! My old one is still working- most of the time, but looking to give up the ghost. So, with some encouragement, I decided to be proactive and not wait until it died and I was in a panic.

Wow!

So much faster, brighter, just so much fun!

I am off to design, write and play on my new machine!

Have a quilty day!

Kate

I really can't believe it is August already. It doesn't feel like we have had a summer yet! And since I have not had a vacation yet, that may be why! Not to mention the less the traditional summer weather we have had this year.

Tomorrow I am going to NYC to see my son Scott in an improv show at UCB. Sounds like fun! Then when I get home, I have to work on the directions for a new quilt that Elizabeth and I are working on. Actually we are working on multiple quilts at the same time... sometimes I am not sure which one to work on next!

One of the quilts is the shop hop quilt for the CT Shop Hop that starts Sept 12th. The quilt has been done for ages and we are finishing tweaking the pattern directions, but I still have to finish the cover. Not too sure of the shot I want on there.

Another quilt I am working on is called Newspaper. I posted of sneak peak of the block- maybe you can guess why we named it Newspaper? Aren't the fabrics fun? they are from the Essentials line from Studio E Fabrics.

Get out there and enjoy your summer before it's gone!

Kate

I landed on a fun site the other night while trolling around in quilt web land.
It's called Two Creative Studios. they offer some on line classess that look like a lot of fun, and have other neat stuff in their store. They are also doing a summer give away event.

Here's what you can win:
Prize #1: A free online class of your choice. Choose any online or class on demand class we offer at Two Creative Studios.
Prize #2: A goody package of Terri and Sue's hand dyed fabrics.
Prize #3: A goody package of a book from Sue and a Giclee Art print from Terri.
The winners will be chosen on 8/15/09 and will be notified via email. We'll announce all the winners in the next newsletter.

So go log on and sign up for their newsletter. Good luck!
http://twocreativestudios.com/newsletter.htm

We're in!
check us out- our pattern, Stack O'Jacks, is in McCalls Quilting!
Here's a link to their web site.
http://www.mccallsquilting.com/articles/Stack_o_Jacks
What fun!

I have been meaning to write , but I wasn't too sure what to write! Elizabeth and I have been working on a really fun design but I can't show it to you yet!
I can tell you that we are on page 71 of the latest McCalls Quilting magazine- it's the "Coming in October" page and the little pumpkin face is ours!
So be sure to head to your favorite quilt shop on August 4th and pick up McCalls Quilting! We are so excited!
And hopefully we will have more news to share soon!
Happy quilting!
Kate

Class

While at spring Market, Elizabeth and I took the time to take a couple of classes. We usually don't do this as we need to be in the booth, so this was a treat. Saturday we each took a different class. Elizabeth took a class on embellishing with Krenick threads- fun stuff! and I took a class called Art Quilts and Journaling. I have been intrigued with the idea of art quilts. There are so many things I want to try and I figured this was a beginning step.

So, off to class I went. It was taught by Jennifer O'Brien of JT Trading. They have the 505 spray, 606 spray, etc... So naturally we were going to use them. We received some fabric, ribbon, small , silk flowers and a paper napkin. And this is what I created. The birdhouses and butterflies are from the paper napkin. Cool! We fused everything together with the 606 spray and how fun to walk away with a little project completed. They also have plastic templates so you can cut your creation into a trading card, or a postcard or a journal page.

So, I guess I am going to have go play some more!

Spring Market

Wow! What fun! Elizabeth and I got to go to Spring Quilt Market and wander around. It was weird not to have a booth but it was also fun to be able to see all the other booths, the quilts, meet new people and talk with some people we have met before. So HI! to all our old and new friends- it was great!

We stayed at a wonderful old hotel. Our room looked out at the stadium so we got to see the baseball games- and the fireworks. And next door was a theatre so we went to see Beauty and the Beast. What a wonderful show.

As much fun as market was, it is good to be home, doing a little sewing, hanging out with hubby and snuggling with the kittty (she is a little pushy!).

off to dream about all our new new fabrics, toys, ideas....

Wow!

I just went thru all the pages on the Collage Mania site and they are great! I have already made of list of my favorites. If you don't know what Collage Mania is about- it's a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society sponsored by Fiberart for a Cause. There are 39 pages of wonderful, inspiring collages by various artists that you can bid on. And 100% of the donations go to the cancer society. Wonderful. Next year I hope to make a collage- like many people, I have family members and friends who have been lost their fight to this disease or who are fighting this disease.

Go! Be inspired! Bid! http://www.virginiaspiegel.com/CM2009Collages1.html

Have you ever started a project and it kept getting bigger and bigger and took over your life? I'll bet you thought I was talking about a quilt project! How about a home project? What started out many months ago (like in the fall) as a "one room replace the carpet" project has turned into a whole downstairs renovation mess! I miss my real sink, the dishwasher but the thing I miss the most is the garbage disposal. We are currently washing the dishes in a plastic overflow sink.

What does this have to do with quilting? Ever notice how your environment can influence you? We usually hear about the breathtaking sunset or the amazing landscape that inspired a design, a color scheme or just the creative process.

Environment can also have a negative impact. Because our little renovation includes most of the first floor (literally- we replaced all the flooring!), the whole house is still a mess. The are no picutres on the walls, the rooms are not back to gether, there is stuff everywhere including the garage, the basement, the kids' rooms (if they try to come from college for the weekend, we will have to clear them a space!). It is a little overwhelming, almost depressing. It looks like we have lived here for 2 months not 13 years. So I think this weekend a little decorating and stuff management is in order. Maybe then my house will be an environment that supports the creative muse, not one that seems to suck the life out of it! Wish me luck!

I could say that its been a while, but then I say that everytime! To be honest, I am spending so much of my time with my "day" job, that I have not had time for the job that makes me happy- my quilting.

We did finish our quilts made with the Cambridge Square fabric from Northcott. I really like the design. Elizabeth made the one from the brown fabric and I did the blue one.

We have lots of projects in the hopper-

it's very exciting! I just wish there were more hours in the day.

Off to finish some directions. And wait for the snow that is supposed

to blanket us tonight.

Kate

What to post??

I can't believe I have not posted in almost 2 months. Part of the problem is that I always worry about what to write. Oh well. No more . I will write about what is going on. yesterday we were supposed to go to Boston to see our son who moved there. But since it was supposed to snow, we decided it was not a good day to travel three hours up and back. So, what to do with time I didn't plan on having?

Well, since my fabric did not come from Northcott yet (I am designing a quilt with their Cambridge Square line and can't wait to start sewing!), I decided to "clean up". I have stuff in my tiny sewing area from many years ago- I still have a quilt magazine from 1983! So, I purged. It was actually great. Sometimes you need to simplify. Too much stuff can just be overwhelming and it feels great to open up some room. It is almost as if, by cleaning up the space, I have cleaned up some creative space internally as well.

Of course, I may have some adjusting to do. I am saver. I have clothes in my attic that I wore when I was 18 years old. My children are now all older than that! And my daughter, who is very small, can't wear any of them. Not only are they out of style, she is a different shape than I was. The same size, just different. So throwing out stuff is hard for me. But it is good. And I have made some space for new stuff! (just don't tell hubby that part!)

Off to make some more space...
kate